Photography

I have always felt that I “fail” at storytelling through still images. A split-second photograph — especially a documentary or journalistic one — can speak more profoundly than a film, or even a book, and I have not yet made one that powerful. But as a medium for conveying feeling, photography never fails. Especially when the feeling is not dramatised. Honest, and as it is.

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Most of this work is shot on film: medium format 120 for portraits, 35mm rangefinder for landscape and movement. Black and white — colour glorifies a moment that has already passed; black and white speaks plainly. What remains is only a shadow.

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EXHIBITIONS

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anātman — solo exhibition. Festival Kiamat Ekosistem, Omah Lor Project (Candibinangun, Pakem) & Bohemian Jogja Villas (Sleman), Yogyakarta, 26–28 July 2024. Curator: Fiza Raehana.

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Batak: Perjalanan ke Tanah Leluhur — Galeri Foto Jurnalistik ANTARA, Jakarta, December 2012, with Tim Tanah Air. My contribution was not photographs but a 40-minute documentary screened in the gallery, which became the feature film Batak, Perjalanan ke Tanah Leluhur.

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The Kawah Ijen Warriors — Galeri Foto Jurnalistik ANTARA, Jakarta, 1–17 May 2010, and House of Sampoerna, Surabaya, 15–31 October 2010, with Tim Tanah Air. Curator: Oscar Motuloh. 87 photographs on the sulphur miners of Kawah Ijen; my series: portraits of the miners on 120 medium-format film. Photobook: The Kawah Ijen's Warriors (GFJA).

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unbreakable — Galeri Foto Jurnalistik ANTARA, Jakarta, 5 April – 6 May 2007. First exhibition, with the 12th GFJA photography workshop cohort. Photobook: unbreakable (GFJA).